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Article Title: Second Floor, Brick Block: Nebraska’s Opera Houses
Full Citation: D Layne Ehlers, “Second Floor, Brick Block: Nebraska’s Opera Houses,” Nebraska History 72
(1991): 3-20
URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1991OperaHouses.pdf
Date: 8/29/2013
Article Summary: Between 1880 and 1920 hundreds of “opera houses” provided entertainment and culture to
thousands of rural and small town Nebraska residents. People gathered for dances, lectures, minstrel shows, or
political meetings.
Cataloging Information:
Opera House Sites Discussed: Diller, Auburn (New Opera House), Falls City (Gehling’s Theatre), Kearney, Omaha
(Boyd Opera House), Fremont (Love-Larsen Opera House), West Point (The Auditorium), Bloomfield (Popeshil
Theatre)
Keywords: stock companies, production companies, vaudeville, minstrels, lyceum bureaus, syndicate, proscenium
arch, drop curtain, ad curtain
Photographs / Images: Anna C Diller Opera House exterior and view from the balcony; Table Rock Opera House
stage; Auditorium front drop curtain; Geneva Opera House proscenium arch; Love-Larson Opera House top
balcony and ceiling detail; Steinauer Opera House wall detail; McIntyre Opera House ticket window; Clay Center
Opera House ceiling detail (2 views); Oshkosh Opera House old settlers’ dance, 1915; ZCBJ Opera House
(Clarkson) rolled scenic drops; New Opera House exterior and window detail; Liederkranz (Grand Island) exterior
detail; York Opera House exterior; Gehling’s Theatre exterior; New Opera House (Ponca) exterior; inset
advertisements for events at the David City Opera House: musical comedy “The Butler County Fair” (Butler
County Press, October 15, 1914) and “The Shepherd of the Hills” (Butler County Press, November 27, 1913); inset
advertisement for performances of the Big Minstrel Troupe at Tecumseh Opera House (Tecumseh Chieftain,
November 24, 1883); Pospeshil Theatre exterior, Pospeshil Orchestra, and Popeshil theatre being used as a
motorcycle repair shop; Allen’s Opera House (Cozad) exterior; illustration showing Boyd Theatre proscenium arch
and drop curtain (Omaha Daily Bee, August 31, 1981; Bruning Opera House exterior; Janacek Theatre (Schuyler)
exterior; Kearney Opera House exterior; inset advertisement for the Opera House Saloon at Schneider’s Opera
House (Snyder Banner, April 22, 1910); Thorpe’s Opera House (David City) exterior and ad curtain; Lawrence
Opera House exterior; Dave Gourley’s Opera House (Rushville) exterior
Anna C. Diller Opera House. (NSHS­
8611/8-37) . . . (below) From the
balcony of Diller Opera House.
(NSHS-8611/9-9) Photos by Chris
Ehlers.
SECOND FLOOR, BRICK BLOCK:
NE RASKA'S OPERA HOUSES
By D. Layne Ehlers
INTRODUCTION
The coming of the railroad and an
influx of settlers seeking land sparked a
wave oftown building in Nebraska dur­
ing the 1870s and 1880s. As Nebraska
towns grew, their citizens sought
polished, professional entertainment
like that available in Chicago, Kansas
City, Omaha, and Lincoln. Expanding
rail networks meant that touring theat­
rical companies could make connec­
tions within a reasonable time at a
reasonable price. But first-rate com­
panies would not perform in the
makeshift wooden halls erected early in
the life of most small towns. Any com­
munity desiring regular dramatic
activity-professional or amateur­
needed an "opera house." Between
1880 and 1920 hundreds of so-called
opera houses on main streets
throughout Nebraska became the prin­
cipal purveyors of entertainment and
culture to thousands of rural and small
town residents.
Nebraska opera houses hosted a
variety of entertainments including
performances by production and stock
companies, musical programs, special­
ty acts, minstrel shows, and lyceum
courses. Most theatrical performances
during the opera house era were pre­
sented by production companies con­
sisting of actors, managers, advance
men, and their entourages. The comD. Layne Ehlers, Ph.D. candidate in the
Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at
UNL, was principal investigator for the
Opera House Buildings in Nebraska
(OHBIN) Project and completed the multiple
property nomination of twenty-five of these
properties to the National Register ofHistoric
Places.
panies took a single play for a year's run
across the country. "Going on the road"
was respectable; it could also be
lucrative.
Production companies brought all
types of plays to the culture-hungry
Plains residents. Rural dramas or
"beautiful plays" found particular
favor with audiences. Melodramas had
their adherents as well. After the turn
of the century, as legitimate theatre
was forced to compete against
vaudeville, motion pictures, and musi­
cal comedy, shows offering pretty girls,
thin plots, and risque costumes
became popular.
Stock companies were troupes of
actors, usually organized in New York,
who prepared a repertory of popular
and classical plays during the summer
and toured the productions during the
season, which extended from Septem­
ber through May. There were few such
troupes in Nebraska before the 1890s,
but more began to appear as opera
house managers found it advantageous
to bring in a company that would pre­
sent a different play each night over a
run of several days.
Some opera houses did present
operas and other fine musical enter­
tainment, most often based on popular
music ofthe day and not grand opera in
the classical sense. Vaudeville first
appeared as a diversion between acts
of stock company plays and eventually
replaced legitimate theatre as the stan­
dard fare offered at many opera
houses.
"Knights of the Burnt Cork," or
minstrels, were a mainstay of rural
American theatre in the nineteenth
century. The blackfaced interlocutors
3
and end men delighted audiences well
into the twentieth century. Although
minstrelsy's strongest appeal was in
small towns, sophisticated big city
theatres were not exempt from the
craze.
Nebraskans who lived in Omaha or
Lincoln regularly saw glittering stars.
Actors and plays of national and inter­
national repute arrived several times
each month for runs of several days.
Smaller communities like Fremont,
Grand Island, Hastings, and Kearney
often booked these. top attractions for a
one- or two-night stand, trading on
their strategic rail line locations be­
tween major metropolises like Kansas
City, Omaha, Denver, and Minnea­
polis.
Late in the nineteenth century, small
towns with limited economic bases
were offered an entertainment option
by booking agencies known as lyceum
bureaus. For a set price, usually $500, a
season of four, five, or six edifying
evenings could be purchased. Often
sponsored by high schools or commer­
cial clubs as fund raisers, these enter­
tainments consisted of musical per­
formances and lecturers. The various
lyceum bureaus took pains to put
together attractive packages, which
relieved small town opera house
owners of the burden of selecting enter­
tainment. Lyceum bureau perfor­
mances were guaranteed: If performers
could not meet a date, another act
would be sent to take their place.
At least once a year most Nebraska
communities staged a home talent pro­
duction with local citizens. These plays
received as much buildup as did the
professional touring companies and
Table Rock Opera House. (NSHS­
8611/6-2) Photo by Chris Ehlers.
.I
Front drop curtain at The Auditorium,
West Point. (NSHS-8704/2-29) ...
(below) Proscenium arch. Geneva
Opera House. (NSHS-8703/2-26)
Photos by Chris Ehlers.
Nebraska's Opera Houses
often were used to raise money for local
civic or charitable organizations.
Sometimes the local talent even toured
in surrounding communities. Minstrel
shows were sometimes offered by local
talent because the singing, jokes, and
blackface were simpler for the
amateur casts.
Nebraska opera houses also hosted
many nontheatrical activities, par­
ticularly when stock or production
companies were not in "season."
Dances occurred more than any other
amusement, particularly in the winter.
In the fall, opera houses were given
over to political meetings. Well-known
candidates like William Jennings
Bryan regularly spoke before opera
house audiences. A popular form of
entertainment, often part of a lyceum
bureau package, was the lecture.
Audience members had a chance to
hear about foreign lands and exotic
lifestyles.
Most small town opera houses were
intended to serve a variety of com­
munity needs. School plays, declama­
tory contests, and athletic events were
held in the opera house, often the only
facility in town large enough to accom­
modate the crowds.
Beginning in the mid-1890s, small
town opera houses found it more dif­
ficult to book major attractions. A
group of New York businessmen
formed a theatrical syndicate in 1896to
control both the productions and the
outlets in which they were presented.
The Syndicate overpowered the theat­
rical stock system, freezing out most
small companies that had catered to
opera houses in the Midwest.
By 1910 the role of the community
opera house was changing rapidly.
Vaudeville consistently outdrew theat­
rical events, and fewer touring com­
panies were working. In the smaller
towns, lyceum bureaus and home
talent productions were about all that
remained to provide live entertain­
ment.
After World War I the excitement
once reserved for live theatre was
generated by moving pictures on a
Top balcony (above, NSHS-8611/7-9)
and ceiling detail at Fremont's Love­
Larson Opera House. (NSHS-8611/
7-10) Photos by Chris Ehlers.
screen. Although local opera house
proprietors showed movies as a
novelty at first; smaller ground floor
theatres designed exclusively for
motion pictures soon cornered the
market. Motion pictures were much
less expensive than live theatre, and as
more films became available, theatre
managers could offer patrons a variety.
Comedy, melodrama, farce, cartoons,
and an adventure serial could be shown
in the same week for less than the cost
of a single live production.
The demise of the opera house came
swiftly. While movies gave entertain­
ment seekers more variety, the
automobile gave them more mobility.
Audiences no longer had to restrict
themselves to whatever fare the local
opera house manager could provide.
Opera houses lost patrons, and many of
those that were not adapted for use as
movie houses were closed.
5
Nebraska History - Spring 1991
OPERA HOUSE DESIGN
Most Nebraska opera houses were
large rooms with a stage at one end and
movable seating, which could be
arranged in rows for performances on
stage, along the side walls at dances
and sporting events, or at tables for
banquets and meetings. Some had a
balcony.
Late nineteenth century Nebraska
opera houses were usually on the
second floor of commercial buildings.
Few entrepreneurs took the gamble of
erecting a single purpose structure
devoted to the performing arts; since
running a theatre was not always a pay­
ing proposition in a small town, owners
made sure that the ground floor could
support the building's expenses. The
upper floors were often shared by
offices or meeting rooms.
At the beginning of the twentieth
century, a trend away from second
story theatres took place. In Nebraska
cities with a population of more than
5,000, no opera houses were built above
the ground floor after 1903, the year
Chicago's "fireproof' Iroquois The­
atre was gutted by flames. The ensuing
changes to New York City theatre
building codes eventually spread
across the nation. 1
Factors other than safety help
explain this trend. It was economically
justifiable; since fewer materials were
needed to construct single story struc­
tures, the overall cost was less. Lower
costs put an opera house within the
financial reach of even towns which
were not railroad stops.? First-floor
theatres also had a slightly greater
seating capacity than second-floor
opera houses; this meant more money
could be generated from ticket sales.
Despite this move away from
second-story opera houses, the
economic advantages of placing a
theatre above a retail business still
played a prominent part in the choice of
location for new theatres and halls, par­
ticularly in small villages. Nearly one­
third of all Nebraska's second-floor
opera houses were constructed during
this century, and more than forty per-
Wall detail at Steinauer Opera House.
(NSHS-8611/8-32) ... (below) Ticket
window, McIntyre Opera House,
Wolbach (NSHS-8703/2-9)Photos by
Chris Ehlers.
6
cent of all opera houses built after 1900
were above the street level. However,
these figures are deceptive; the
majority of second-floor opera houses
built during the twentieth century were
located in villages with populations of
less than 600. Combining two enter­
prises in one building, despite safety
and convenience drawbacks, made
sense for communities with small
economic bases. Larger population
centers followed the national trend
toward first-floor theatres.
Facades. In most small towns, com­
mercial districts were not architec­
turally linked by uniform styles.
Expense and availability of materials
determined the elaborateness and size
of the buildings. According to architect
Richard Longstreth, this is true of main
street architecture across the United
States; he further contends that the
front face of the building-the
facade-is the most important part of
an American main street building.
"The facade does not just contain
essential elements," he writes. "It
boasts of ornament, signs, and other
distinctive features. It exhibits the best
materials and workmanship."3
Nebraska opera house facades fall
into several groups: (1) two-story com­
mercial blocks, usually brick, with the
opera house above a retail space (2)
first-floor opera houses (3) grand opera
palaces, confined to the larger cities.
The New Opera House, erected on
the north side of Auburn at a reported
cost of $20,000, typifies the two-story
commercial block of the late nine­
teenth century. It includes two large
arched windows at the center of the
facade, each brick arch crowned with a
classical style mask. Stone border rows
are strategically placed along the
facade. The upper third of the facade
includes latticed brickwork, decorative
stone in the shape of leaves, and two
highly decorative pediments, which
proclaim "18" and "90."
Another elaborate nineteenth cen­
tury brick block was that erected by the
Gehlings of Falls City, who made their
money from a brewery and a bakery.
Nebraska's Opera Houses
Ceiling details, Clay Center Opera
House. (NSHS-8705/3-9) Photos by
Chris Ehlers.
Nebraska History - Spring 1991
Old settlers dance at Oshkosh Opera House (now the Silver Hill Museum), February 10,
1915. (NSHS-8705/4-5) Photo by Chris Ehlers.
Rolled scenic drops, ZCBJ Opera House, Clarkson. (NSHS-8704/2-15) Photo by Chris
Ehlers.
8
Constructed in 1892-93, the facade
features windows decorated with brick
arches, stone trim, stepped cornice
with turrets, and "1892" and "Gehling"
set into the top in stone.
Facades of the grand opera palaces
were imposing. The Lansing Theatre,
later the Oliver, in Lincoln (1891)
included tower-like features. The Par­
mele Theatre in Plattsmouth (1900)
and Paddock Theatre in Beatrice
(1889) featured domed turrets and
towers. The grandiose Kearney Opera
House, erected in 1890-91, used stone
shipped from the quarry at Rawlins,
Wyoming, and carved at a Kearney
stoneyard." James Boyd's second
Omaha opera house, the 1891 Boyd
Theatre, was built of stone and
pressed brick.
Only one of Nebraska's opera
palaces has retained its original,
elaborate facade, the former Love
(later Larson) Opera House in Fremont
(1888). The three-story brick building
has a vertical emphasis and is trimmed
with stone and decorative pressed
metal. Other ornamentation includes
patterns of stone and pressed brick
checkerwork, stained glass windows
used in the upper stories, and a
balcony. Two entrances to the theatre
are located on either side of the
building.
Elaborate pressed metal cornices
(ornate moldings along the top edges of
buildings) were characteristic of
nineteenth
century
architectural
decoration. The cornice and window
hoods which remain on Clem's Opera
House in Gresham, built about 1891,
and the pressed metal cornices on
Daugherty's Opera House in Auburn
(1886), the York Opera House in York
(1888), and Schneider's opera house in
Snyder (1900) are excellent examples
of decorative pressed metal. Cornices
were also corbelled (supported by pro­
jecting ornamental devices) as at Clay
Center (1894). Some nineteenth cen­
tury brick blocks went further than
decorative cornices topped with finial
(ornamental) peaks. The Janecek
Theatre in Schuyler (1893) featured a
Nebraska's Opera Houses
New Opera House, Auburn. (NSHS­
8611/5-8 ... (right) Window detail,
Auburn. (NSHS-8611/5-10) Photos
by Chris Ehlers.
9
The Liederkranz, Grand Island.
(NSHS-8704/3-21) Photo by Chris
Ehlers . . . (right) York Opera House,
York. Courtesy of Andrea 1. Paul.
turret atop the decorative cornice,
making it resemble the palatial thea­
tres of larger cities.
Simpler designs were also represen­
tative of opera house construction.
Stepped cornices were incorporated
into the Marquis Opera House at
Scottsbluff (1907) and the Pospeshil
Theatre in Bloomfield (1906). Some
even included pediments-triangular
gables-above the cornices, such as
the New Opera House in Ponca (1900)
or the Temple Theatre in Broken Bow
(1906), but most commercial facades
after 1900 were plain. Small diamond­
shaped concrete patches are the only
trim for the Z.C.B.J. Opera House at
Clarkson (1913) and the Auditorium at
Geneva (1915),while nothing more than
decorative brickwork embellishes the
facades of the opera house in Diller
(1912), the Lawrence Opera House
(1901), and the lO.O.F. Opera House
at Bladen (1912-13).
Not all opera house blocks that
included second-floor theatre space
were standard red brick. Builders of
the Nelson Opera House in Chadron
(1888) used multicolored stone in its
appealing facade. Others, like Allen's
Opera House above the bank in Cozad
(1906), were constructed in rusticated
concrete blocks, manufactured by local
artisan Charles Hart and merchan­
10
dised as "patent stone."> The second­
story opera house in Lodgepole above
Isenberger's Garage (1911) was also
built from concrete blocks, but a
pressed tin false front with huge letters
proclaiming "Lodgepole Opera House"
gives the building a more dramatic
appearance. The Mcintyre Opera
House in Wolbach (1903) used pressed
metal on the entire front facade and
along one side.
The tendency toward community
auditoriums represented a coming of
age for Nebraska towns. Town councils
no longer relied on one upstanding
citizen to shoulder the burden of pro­
viding a community gathering place;
Nebraska's Opera Houses
rather, they accepted the respon­
sibility, passing bond issues and hiring
a part-time manager. Facades seldom
contained much ornamentation, per­
haps due to cost and dictates of style.
Sometimes false fronts were used, as in
the Freeman Opera House in Sargent
(1907), the San Carlo Opera House in
Friend (1909), or the Auditorium in
West Point (1911), but generally
auditoriums' facades were plain. Some
had a vault style front, similar to those
on the Bruning Opera House (1907)and
the Auditorium at Exeter (1909).
Among the many community auditori­
ums constructed toward the end of the
opera house era were those at Norfolk
(1900), Clearwater (1900), Wakefield
(1902), Osceola (1903),Hickman (1906),
Johnstown (1907), Neligh (1907),
Laurel (1912), Valentine (1912), and
Long Pine (1915).
Although motion pictures were
invented in 1889 and the first full­
length picture, The Great Train Rob­
bery, had appeared by 1903, it was not
until after 1910 that movies began to
seriously infringe on the live opera
house business in Nebraska. Canny
businessmen interested in erecting
recreational facilities could see that the
day was coming when movies would
mean big profits and planned for it by
constructing first-floor theatres with
permanent seats. Most of these either
omitted balconies with audience seat­
ing or had projection booths built into
the balconies to accommodate the
bulky equipment necessary to show
movies. Among the Nebraska opera
houses built in this style are the Civic
Theatre in Hay Springs (date un­
known); the LO.O.F. Opera Hall in
Bladen (1912); Gourley's Opera House
in Rushville (1914), which featured a
combination roller skating rink and
dance floor in the basement; the
Auditorium in Geneva (1915); and the
Martha Ellen Auditorium in Central
City (1916). Some opera houses, like
that at Hyannis (1911), restricted
families with small children to the
balcony so that other patrons would not
be disturbed."
A few opera houses presented u­
nique appearances and were sources of
considerable community pride. The
North Opera House of Columbus
(1901) boasted the "largest stage be­
tween Omaha and Denver." The
Liederkranz of Grand Island (1912) dis­
plays massive pillars and a decoratively
carved pediment resembling a Greek
temple. On a smaller scale, the Sur­
prise Community Hall (1913) also
features concrete columns decorating
its vault style facade.
The House. Theatre houses, or
auditoriums, in extantNebraska opera
houses fall into three distinct
categories: (1) general purpose halls,
with and without balconies, which have
no permanent seating; (2) small-town
theatres with opera chairs, built after
the advent of motion pictures; and (3)
plush opera palaces in cities of more
than 5,000 population.
An exceptional hardwood floor was
common to most. opera houses with
movable seating. Since these opera
houses were used for a variety of
Gehling's Theatre, Falls City. (NSHS-8611/5-24) Photo by Chris Ehlers . . . (right) New Opera House, Ponca. Courtesy of Andrea
L Paul.
11
Nebraska History - Spring 1991
Big Musical
Comedy
"TUE BUTLER COUNTY fAIR"
100 LOCAL PEOPLE
David City Opera House,
Friday & Saturday Nights, Oct. 16 and 17,
Under the Auspices of the
High School Athletic Association
Directed by CAROLYN ELINOR STALEY
CAST OF C"ARAC rERs.
Mrs. SI Perkins
S.lIy Perkln
S unny JI m,
other Clw1Ic:tera
MUSICAL SELECTION5.
Mrs. John Eberly Mme. sweetoswees, J.p.neee perform• .5electlon. by tho County P.... IIud.
Amella AlbrIght ers, Gypsy fortune tellers, La Lo Overture,
Orehestra
..
WJlI Sehwes.r (Wild M.n 01 Alrlc •. )
Take Me Back to Bab)·land
50 little girl.
Uncle J08lah WIggins
M.tt Cram Soloists_Matt Cram, Elm.r Ste •• ns, Cau't You S•• I Lo.e You .;
.
Aunt Sarah WIggin•. Blanche Clough George Ball, Mrs. M.ltbY, Helen .'" ..... M.tropolltan Opera Company
Garl.nd
01Old·Fashioned
Roees
BOBS Gre.n
Berman SolIham
Ben, Graee J!lttlng, L)·dl. Runyon.
..
'"'''' ., Rose M.ld dh~rii8
Widow Bedolt
Ma~g.ret Wright PJ.nlst>-Dorothy W.nser.
Chesapeake llay
Leve. Chorus
Aunt Em.lln
cecil. Sellhom Chorn. Girls _ F.)·e Curry, Ruth
..
..
Little Johnny
L. J Clough Rominger, Dorris Abbott, Vylma i I'm Going Back to Carolina
.
Prol. SlIck.m
Thurman Hinds Straka, Lucille Westo.er, cecellai 'j"
Tra ••'.rsChorua
Mrs. Henpeck
:
HazeI TlIIma Brochtrup, Rita HolI.nd, Margar.t: s•a 'atlon N~II.SalvatlonArmy Chorus
Mr. Henpeck
; ..Dr. And.rson
.
. ISail on SII. ry Moon
;
..
Holland, G.ue.le,. NIchols, Lydia'
Moonllght Lo•• n
Parson Jon
Elm.r Steph.ns Runyon, H.I.n R.n, Grace Ettlug, II Love, La
'luO'y Rom. Chorus
blnah Snowbsll
Mn. John Eberly Zor. Wu.nd.rllch, Marion WrIght, n.s Anybody I1ere S.en ~.er_
Mr. John Da.ls {RetIred Banker).......
Ro•• r
lIoy. Chorus
..................................G.org. Ball Ruth Ettlng, Frances Rosenstock, Go to Sleep My Plckanlnny Babe......
Mn. John DllvlB {a Jealous Wile).....
Donna n.w...
..
J,llnah Snowball
If
M
F
h ~l Itb
Swannee Shore
Plckanlnny Chornl
Lijjj~~·R~~I~ ~~..c':r~~yn S~le; (lhoru. Boys-Elmer Straka, Rentley I'm on My Way to Mandalay'
.
R<XlY Jones (Country BrldlO................ George, Sterling Coe, W..ley Glock,
;
Orlental Chorua
............................. Lydl. Runyon Thurman Hluds, Paul Carlisle, W:i~en s'..':.::J:~'JI~T ~~;:':~~~tory to
Willie Jones {Groom) a.rald .'enlon Louis Coolr, Edwin I1ale, Elm.r
"".""
SWlnr {ih'Oru'i
Wldo"er Arm.trong
John Eberly Stephens.
Grand .'Inale
Eotlre Company
I
activities, including dancing, a solid
floor was necessary. Even floors in
theatres long abandoned and now
relegated to storage, as in Tecumseh
and Lawrence, reflect exceptional
craftsmanship.
Most of these hall style theatres had
limited interior decoration'? Many
small-town opera halls featured
wainscoting as the main wall decora­
tion. At Lodgepole, the front wall below
the stage is wainscoted and also
painted blue, as are the proscenium
arch and woodwork around doorways.
At Allen's Opera House in Cozad, rem­
nants of wainscoting can be seen on the
ceiling. At both the Tecumseh Opera
House and Schneider's Opera House in
Snyder, the walls around the
auditorium are wainscoted to a height
of about three feet. Wainscoting is used
extensively throughout the auditorium
of the Pospeshil Theatre. Even the
knee-knocker balcony rail at the New
Opera House in Auburn is wainscoted.
At Steinauer the lower three feet of the
house walls are wainscoted; wall decor
of pressed tin then continues to the
pressed tin ceiling.
Pressed tin decorations were nearly
universal in Nebraska opera houses,
IA~~·~~:~. ~~~.~ ~ ~.~~.~ ~lg~I~;~tiirii8
Admission,
leservell Seats
01
3~e
llod
~Oc.
Sale at Eilbt O'clock Tbarsday I.nillat P'au's On, St.R.
Butler County Press (David City), October 15, 1914 ... (right) Butler County Press,
November 27,1913.
12
David City Opera House
Monday, Dec. I
Uaskil nud Mo.cyitts (In('.)
nunounee
THE
SHEPHERD
OF THE HILLS
Nebraska's Opera Houses
reflecting a wide variety of patterns and
colors. Many such ceilings are still in
excellent condition. A unique pattern,
found at the Perkin Opera House in
Maywood (1903), looks like a howling
North Wind. The lobby foyer at the
Pace Theatre in Chadron is composed
of orange tin in a decorative pattern. At
Osceola's Monson (later Morrison)
Opera House (1894), pressed tin is used
to decorate ceiling supports. The Pos­
peshil features a ceiling in shades of
rust and dark green, with a double bor­
der of pressed tin in two distinctive
panels circling the auditorium. The
most noteworthy example of nine­
teenth century pressed tin remains at
the Clay Center Opera House (1894),
which features a large panel in the cen­
ter ofthe auditorium, vividly decorated
with Greek urns and cupids.
Some balconies, such as those at the
Z.C.B.J. Opera House in Clarkson
(1913) and Bloomfield's Pospeshil
(1906), contain permanent pew style
bench seating. At Table Rock and
David City, the balcony floors are
raked. While many front balcony edges
were either straight or only gently
curved, some, such as those at
Thorpe's in David City and Gehling's in
Falls City, were true horseshoe shapes,
a type first popularized in Italy during
the fifteenth century.f
Audience members at opera houses
usually sat on wooden folding chairs. At
Tecumseh, the original chairs remain
on rolling carts in their storage cham­
ber under the stage. At the Table Rock
Opera House (1893), racks in the wings
on each side of the proscenium arch
still hold vintage seats.
In the more pretentious theatres,
intended only for theatrical and motion
picture performances, owners installed
permanent opera seats. Some, such as
those at the Diller Opera House (1912),
included hat racks underneath. Seats
at the Martha Ellen Auditorium in Cen­
tral City (1916) are particularly ornate.
Most, such as those in Diller and
Rushville, were wooden, with curved
backs and seats. Because sight lines are
important in a theatre in which chairs
THE
BIH MI~STUEIJ TUOUPE.
. AT TECUMSEH.
lONE r-oWHT ONLY.
OPERA HOUSE,
Friday, November 30.
Return 01 the Iau.ous and world-wide
renowned
MASTODONS,
under the same mauagement since
ergauizat iou 111 186'l. The lame name
anlPtllie 1'01' 21 rears.
This monster organization will pre.
seut in its fourfold attraction,
tirst­
Heywood's Mastodons,
A wanlll,l0th gvmnasrlc, acrobatic and
specialty troupe, Sccond the
Oelgiuel Sonthem
Mocking Bird Minstrels,
,
Accompanted by Mr. J. E. GUEEN,
tho orlglnator of the New
Orteaus
~linstrcl8
.;
in 18M.
Third-The great picturesque
Uncle Tom's Cabin
On a large stale.
Fourth-Grand Concert by the
Musical Brigade BraB8 and
.Reed Band, Lone Star
Oabin Singers and
the Apollo
are bolted to the floor, such
auditoriums were usually raked. Some
of these later opera houses have
balconies which are accessed directly
from the main aisles, not from narrow,
steep stairways at the rear, such as the
1915 Auditorium erected at Geneva
and Dave Gourley's Opera House in
Rushville, vintage 1914. At Central City
the Martha Ellen Auditorium features
an elegant horseshoe tiered balcony.
Decoration in these later opera
houses was sometimes elaborate. The
Diller Opera House contains remnants
of stenciling by James Willer and
Charles Hansen, southeast Nebraska
artists who also decorated Beatrice's
Paddock Hotel and Opera House
(1889). The Diller walls featured grape
motifs and bands of diamond-shaped
patterns, while the ceiling included
motifs of lilies, roses, bands, and rib­
bons in shades of blue, green, yellow,
and pink. These artists used both sten­
ciling and free-hand painting as part of
their fresco process. At the Geneva
Auditorium, pre-1935 filigreed murals
now decorate the walls, stenciled by
Knud Knudsen, a local house painter
and owner of the Economy Paint
Factory."
Frescoing at the Love Opera House
in Fremont, contracted by Minneapolis
artists Lindman and McIvor, featured
muted maroons and blues, with gold
trim and scroll accents. The pros­
cenium arch was surrounded by a
three-foot-wide fresco motif, which was
carried around the top of the other
three walls of the house. A sun burner
was suspended from the frescoed dome
in the center of the auditorium. The
dome of the regal Kearney Opera
House was painted sky blue and
embellished with fleecy clouds. Holes
in the ceiling allowed light bulbs to
twinkle in the "sky" of the darkened
theatre.!?
Brown tones were favored in the 1881
Boyd Opera House. Boxes and bal­
conies in the theatre were painted in
Club.
IIIii1r Aamlulon 5jJ cents Reserved 8eaIII
7i) QClli. Tlckeli 0111&11 at QltW pU.
13
Tecumseh Chieftain, November 24,
1883.
Nebraska History - Spring 1991
The Pospeshil Theatre, Bloomfield, was built about 1900. (NSHS-H673.5-4787) . . . (right) Pospeshil Orchestra in 1907. Band mem­
bers: Vlasta, piano; John, violin; Rudolph, flute; Tony Turecheh, cornet; and Carl Anderson, slide trombone. Courtesy of Rita Drobny.
(NSHS-H673.5-4785).
The Pospeshil was once used as a
motorcycle repair shop. (NSHS-8705/
7-17) Photo by Chris Ehlers.
various tints of browns and blues, while
the elaborate hangings sparkled in
crimson silk plush and gold raw silk.
Carved arches encompassed the boxes.
Frescoing by Henry Ranje, borrowed
from Indianapolis's English Opera
House, was done in warm tones.
Figures of Drama, Declamation, and
The Arts embellished the proscenium
arch, while the dome was done in
"cerulean blue with trees, flowers and
foliage in Eastlake designs in the
foreground."!'
For his grand Boyd Theatre a decade
later, James E. Boyd once again hired
Noxon and Toomey, the St. Louis firm
which had designed his earlier opera
house. The auditorium walls were sage
green and olive; fronts of the olive and
gray (or pink and gray) boxes featured
bronze and gold protruding edges.
Since the decor for this theatre was
Arabesque, Boyd hired Austrian fres­
coist Paolo Pavesich, a muralist who
had worked on the sultan's palace in
Constantinople and the czar's palace at
14
St. Petersburg.F His pictures were "at
once strong and earnest in character,
remarkable in the harmony of their
colors."13
Proscenium Arches. The most eye­
catching detail in opera houses was the
proscenium arch, or frame, which sur­
rounded the stage opening. Since it
focused the audience's attention, it was
attractive, even in small, plain opera
houses. The utilitarian wooden arch at
David City is attractively saucer­
edged. At Lodgepole, the arch, like the
Nebraska's Opera Houses
Allen's Opera House, Cozad. Courtesy of James B. Frazier.
15
Nebraska History - Spring 1991
PIW8CENIeM AW.'II A:'\D nnol' Ct:HTAI:-i,
Proscenium arch and drop curtain of Boyd Theatre.
Omaha Daily Bee, August 31, 1891.
rest ofthe woodwork, was painted blue.
Snyder's arch displays wooden "but­
tons." Some proscenium arches in
small opera halls were more decorative.
At Auburn the wooden arch includes
carved pillers on either side. The arches
at both Verdigre and Geneva are gilt,
Verdigre's resembling a golden picture
frame, Geneva's enclosed by lights.
Like the rest of their interiors, the
arches in Nebraska's grand palaces
glittered. The arch of the 1881 Boyd
Opera House was heavily molded, dis­
playing a "heroic" bust of Shakes­
peare, with features "worked out with
wonderful fidelity, an artistic produc­
tion of the woodcarver's art."14 The
proscenium arch at Boyd's 1891
theatre featured
two pedestals painted on the broad surface along
the sides. Across the top, vases with roses, lilies,
narcissus and phlox were arranged in groupings.
Above the proscenium arch was a full length,
elaborately decorated cornice supported by pro­
jecting brackets."
Stage Accoutrements. Most stages
had ample wing space; some, such as
16
the Hampton Opera House (1893) and
the Z.C.B.J. Opera House in Clarkson
(1912), included makeshift wooden
dressing rooms, while other theatres,
like those at Verdigre and Friend, had
rooms just outside the wings which
were presumably used by the actors.
Since the grand palaces in large cities
utilized the space under the stage for
dressing rooms, so did moderate-sized
theatres like Fairbury's Majestic,
David City's Thorpe, Geneva's and
Central City's Auditorium, Falls City's
Gehling, and probably Bloomfield's
Pospeshil. The smallest theatres with
the fewest records of traveling com­
panies, like Clem's Opera House in
Gresham and the Lawrence and
Steinauer opera houses, had no dress­
ing rooms in the theatre."
Most stages had rows of battens,
which held the rolled drop curtains, a
system still in use at the Clarkson
Z.C.B.J. and McCool M.W.A. opera
houses. Permanent grooves in the floor
held the canvas wing scenery. The
entire system was known as "wing and
shutter." An excellent example
remains at Table Rock, where two full
sets of scenery are in place in the stage
grooves. These demonstrate the ease
with which the decor could be shifted to
indicate different settings.
Nearly all larger theatres had at least
one trap door for special effects; some
were called the "star" or "vampire"
trap. Others were simply referred to as
the "center" (for its location on center
stage) trap. At both remaining Z.C.B.J.
opera houses (Clarkson and Verdigre),
the center front area of the stage
includes a prompt box, a small square
opening leading to a trap where a prompt­
er could stand to cue actors. I?
Scenery. All opera house scenery was
painted on canvas, first rolled curtains
which could be dropped into place and
later free-standing "flats," painted
canvas stretched across a lumber
frame. Most opera houses which
featured traveling performers owned
four sets of curtains depicting front
room, back room, timber, and town
locales. Larger theatres had much
Nebraska's Opera Houses
Bruning Opera House, Bruning . . .
Janecek Theatre, Schuyler . . . (right)
Kearney Opera House, Kearney. Cour­
tesy of Andrea 1. Paul.
more extensive scenic decorations:
Kearney boasted eighty-seven separ­
ate pieces of scenery; Fremont offered
eleven sets comprised of eighty-three
pieces; and the 1891 Boyd Theatre
ordered seventeen full sets from the St.
Louis firm of Noxon and Toomey."
In the grand opera palaces the
magnificent front drop curtain was the
most impressive, since it greeted
patrons upon their arrival and often
between scenes. At Fremont's Love
Opera House, this curtain was of
painted velvet with side curtains, fringed and
draped back too realistically, showing a most
foreign and formal balustraded garden, with
meticulously placed and clipped trees standing
in lined array about a fountain. The piece d'resis­
tance (sic) of this was a statued 'Aphrodite'
(without any nighty [sic]) taking her daily shower,
and of which two unembarrassed, strolling lovers
took no notice, their amours obviously
occupying them.'?
The drop curtain at Kearney depicted
"The Rajah's Triumphal Entry Into
Singapore."2o Noxon and Toomey also
provided the drop curtain for the Boyd
Opera House, a landscape of "rich
Italian sky and transparent water sur­
rounded by an Eastlake design with
Oriental vases containing exotics."?'
The gorgeous drop provided for Boyd
by the company a decade later featured
"The Festival of the Madonna"
enclosed by a wide Florentine frame.F
One such curtain remains in Nebraska,
on display at the West Point Audi­
torium. Although the back of the cur­
tain has been coated with dark paint to
strengthen it, Kansas City Scenic Com­
pany patented light units dated 1908
(backstage at the Auditorium) suggest
that this company provided the front
drop as well. The drop features a foun­
tain with a dome in the distance,
framed in ornate gilt and embellished
with green draperies.
17
Most small-town opera houses,
which couldn't afford such extravagant
curtains, featured their alternative, the
advertising or "ad" curtain. Some of
these were purchased from traveling
salesmen for companies which pro­
vided a drop curtain with a decorative
landscape in the center, surrounded by
shapes, which a local artist could then
letter with the names of local busi­
nesses which purchased the advertis­
ing space. InBloomfield, the original ad
curtain was decorated with "a street
scene in Bloomfield with paintings of
five of Bloomfield's big brick buildings.
Advertising spaces went like hotcakes;
there didn't seem to be enough to go
around."23
From the smallest opera hall at
Steinauer with its makeshift pros­
Nebraska History - Spring 1991
cenium to the elegant and gracious Boyd
Theatre in Omaha, the opera houses
represented the entire spectrum of
midwestern theatre architecture. The
buildings themselves were important
as the hub of community entertain­
ment, but it was the events, not the
space, that left a warm glow in the
memory of those who participated.
EPILOGUE
The future of Nebraska's remaining
opera houses is uncertain. Only about
one fourth of the state's 513 identified
opera houses remain; some of those
now gone have fallen to fire, wind, or
water, but most were torn down
because they were safety hazards or to
make way for new buildings or parking
lots. Omaha's elegant Brandeis
Theatre, for example, was replaced by
a parking structure in 1960. Some still
stand only because the owners cannot
afford to dismantle them. The Review
Opera House in Dunbar fell to a wreck­
ing crew in the summer of 1987, sold for
its bricks, because the cost of bringing
the building up to electrical code was
prohibitive.s- The auditorium of the
once-elegant Pospeshil Theatre of
Bloomfield now has a concrete ramp
instead of a wing on the left side of the
stage, an addition made to accom­
modate a tenant, who used the space as
storage for his motorcycle repair shop.
The Diller Opera House, praised as "a
great boon to the town" when it opened
in 1912, has become a haven for birds
because its owner claims the building
as a one-story structure for tax pur­
poses and has not repaired broken win­
dows on the upper floor." The palatial
Love-Larson Opera House in Fremont
had all interior accoutrements-stage,
boxes, seats, pits, dressing rooms­
except the top balcony removed in the
1920s, when its owners converted it to
apartments; renovating efforts by its
current owner, the nonprofit Friends of
the Fremont Opera House, are ham­
pered by the disappearance of virtually
all interior photographs of either the
Love Opera House or the Larson Opera
House."
CARL BARZ
PROPRIETOR OF
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FA~nLY
FJ1\lB
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TRADE 1<;::
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LIQVORS
MY
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PBFJJI!O;N1f' BEBR ON HAND',.
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Schneider's Opera House, Snyder, was featured in this period advertisement. Snyder
Banner, April 22, 1910.
Most opera houses which survive are
barely reminiscent of their heyday. In
nearly half, the theatre has been torn
out, replaced by apartments. Some
which still retain part of the auditorium
and stage are useful only for storage,
like the old opera house above Tecum­
seh's Chief Drug Store, since the
buildings no longer meet structural or
safety codes for public meeting places.
The words "Opera House" or the con­
struction date, memorialized in stone,
sometimes decorate the main facade.
Facade embellishments which are
damaged by weather are seldom
repaired.?"
Twenty-five of Nebraska's remain­
ing opera houses were placed on the
National Register of Historic Places in
the fall of 1988.28 These opera houses
were recognized both for their architec­
tural and for their historical value.
Selection of the properties for the
18
nomination was based on a number of
factors, including the presence and
condition of the stage, including trap
doors, prompt boxes, scenery grooves,
battens and rollers for canvas drops,
and dressing rooms; auditorium
accoutrements, such as balcony, walls,
permanent original seating, fixtures,
hardware, and orchestra pit; the
similarity of the current floor plan to
the original; the presence of ticket win­
dows or box offices; interior decora­
tions like stenciling and pressed tin
ceilings; graffiti from touring com­
panies of the opera house era; condi­
tion and integrity of the facade; and
other considerations unique to
individual facilities.
Owners of some opera houses, wish­
ing to preserve their buildings' histori­
cal value, keep the buildings open to
the public. Several former opera
houses are museums operated by local
Nebraska's Opera Houses
historical societies, such as the Table
Rock, Orleans, and Oshkosh opera
houses.
A number of these old halls are still
used as theatres and public meeting
places today. The I.O.O.F. Opera
House in Bladen, the McCool Opera
House in McCool Junction, the Civic
Theatre in Hay Springs, The Palace in
Long Pine, the Liederkranz in Grand
Island, the Hyannis Opera House,
Queen'.s Theatre in Scottsbluff, the
Auditoriums in Laurel, Giltner,
Geneva, and West Point, the Norman
Opera House, and DeMerritt's Opera
House in Alexandria still reflect the
spirit of community gathering which
typified opera houses in the fifty years
following statehood. Now restored,
Thorpe's Opera House in David City
serves as a fine arts performing center.
The Z.C.B.J. Opera Houses, in
Clarkson and in Verdigre, remain vir­
tually unchanged from the early years
of the century.
Society has moved away from the
times when the whole town got together
to celebrate at a dance, applaud an
edifying lecturer, or laugh at a minstrel
show. Yet such events are remembered
fondly by those who were there. Opera
houses, as the visible remains of the
days when theatrical troupes crossed
the country on rails, should be pre­
served as a warm and vibrant piece of
Americana.
NOTES
"Second Floor, Brick Block" is the result of
two years of study and assimilation of material
relevant to Nebraska's opera houses in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The
research, known as the Opera House Buildings in
Nebraska (OHBIN) Project, was funded under a
federal grant from the United States Department
of the Interior, National Park Service, adminis­
tered by the State HistoricPreservation Office of
the Nebraska State Historical Society. The
OHBIN Project culminated in the fall of 1988
with the nomination of twenty-five opera houses
to the National Register of Historic Places. The
complete study is available for review at the State
Historic Preservation Office.
'Mary C. Henderson, Theatre in America: 200
Years of Plays, Players and Productions (New
York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986), 244.
"The number of villages with populations of
Thorpe's Opera House, David City
(right, NSHS-8611/1-1O); with ad
curtain (above, NSHS-8611/1-17).
Photos by Chris Ehlers.
under 500 erecting opera houses doubled in the
years following 1900.
3Richard Longstreth, "Compositional Types
in American Commercial Architecture," Prospec­
tives in Vernacular Architecture, II (Columbia:
University of Missouri Press, 1986), 15.
4Alice S. Howell, "The Opera Houses-Part
II," Buffalo Tales (Sept. 1986),3.
5Lane Hart, interview with author, Apr. 11,
1987.
6Judge Kaschube, interview with author, May
22,1987.
"Rita M. Glass, "The History of the Thorpe
Opera House" (Masters' thesis, University of
Nebraska at Omaha, 1981),47-48.
8The horseshoe sides at David City no longer
remain.
"Bill Turek, interview with author, Mar. 14,
1987.
IOAlice S. Howell, "The Opera House-Part
II," Buffalo Tales (Sept. 1986), 5.
IIKeith Allen Reynolds, "19th Century
Theater Structures in Iowa and Nebraska, 1857­
1900: A Classification of Selected General Utility
Halls, Opera Halls, and Opera Houses as De­
scribed in Local Newspapers and Histories"
(diss., Florida State University, 1981),227.
12Ibid., 340.
I30maha Daily Bee, Aug. 31, 1891, 5.
14Ibid., Oct. 24, 1881, 2.
15Reynolds, 34l.
16Steinauer's proscenium arch was not built
into the theatre, as is the usual practice. The
Steinauer opera house has virtually no wing
space, indicating that only the simplest produc­
tions could have been staged there.
I7Z.C.B.J. opera houses regularly presented
home talent productions-in Czech. As more and
19
Lawrence Opera House, Lawrence.
(NSHS-8704/2-6) Photo by Chris
Ehlers.
Nebraska History - Spring 1991
Dave Gourley's Opera House, Rushville, now an interdenominational mission. (NSHS-8705/5-29) Photo by Chris Ehlers.
more residents stopped speaking Czech, the pro­
moter had to cue amateur actors with the
foreign dialogue.
18Howell, 5.
19Robert A. Schanke, "Fremont's Love Opera
House," Nebraska History 55(1974):227.
2°Howell, 5.
21Reynolds, 229.
22Ibid., 344.
23Bloomfield Monitor, Aug. 23, 1906.
24Gene Hobbie, interview with author, Nov.
15,1986.
25ClayVaughn, Jr., interview with author, Febr.
21, 1987.
26Loell Jorgensen, interview with author, Jan.
14,1987.
27Another example: a missing chunk ofthe cor­
nice of Schneider's Opera House in Snyder,
which features a decorative frieze of spoked
wheels, has never been replaced.
28Thorpe's Opera House, David City; Surprise
Opera House, Surprise; Lodgepole Opera
House, Lodgepole; Z.C.B.J. Opera House,
Clarkson; Army Theatre, Fort Robinson; Allen's
Opera House, Cozad; Love Opera House, Fre­
mont; Schneider's Opera House, Snyder;
20
Creighton Theatre, Omaha; the Auditorium,
Geneva; Hampton Opera House, Hampton:
Anna C. Diller Opera House, Diller; Tecumseh
Opera House, Tecumseh; Pospeshil Theatre,
Bloomfield; Z.C.B.J. Opera House, Verdigre;
Martha Ellen Auditorium, Central City; New
Opera House, Auburn; Lawrence Opera House,
Lawrence; Steinauer Opera House, Steinauer;
Table Rock Opera House, Table Rock; Gehling's
Theatre, Falls City; Warren's Opera House,
Friend; Gourley's Opera House, Rushville;
I.O.O.F. Hall and Opera House, Bladen; and
Clem's Opera House, Gresham.